What you should know about the case against Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora

Journalist José Rubén Zamora has been imprisoned in Guatemala for more than 800 days accused of money laundering, blackmail, influence peddling and obstruction of justice.

Although a court granted him house arrest in August of this year, the journalist has remained in prison for the crime of obstruction of justice.

This October 18, a hearing will be held to review the measures in which a Guatemalan judge will decide whether he remains imprisoned or will face the process outside of prison.

These are the keys to your case:

1. José Rubén Zamora, 67, was arrested in July 2022, after publishing an editorial, in his defunct media elPeriódico, entitled “The Fable of the Ogre and the Little Prince who wanted it all”, where he describes an alleged network of corruption in the government of former president Alejandro Giammattei.
2. Days later it was accused of five crimesamong these money laundering and obstruction of justice. For the first he was convicted in 2023, but the Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court annulled the sentence and ordered a new trial. In none of the cases has there been a final ruling.
3. One of the heads of the Prosecutor’s Office behind the accusations against Zamora is Rafael Curruchiche, head of the fiscal unit designated to investigate high-impact cases. Curruchiche is located in the United States Department of State listing of corrupt and undemocratic actors.
4. It is known that at least 10 lawyers have resigned from taking on Zamora’s defense, for fear of reprisals. In at least two cases, after having taken charge of the journalist’s defense, the lawyers were notified of investigations against them.
5. The case for obstruction of justice is being handled by substitute judge Rodolfo Córdova, who, according to the United Nations rapporteur for the independence of judges and magistrates, has faced intimidation and threats.
6. A UN report notes that Zamora has been subjected to nearly 20 months of solitary confinement in near-constant darkness, in addition to sleep deprivation, forced nudity, arbitrary searches of his cell and a failure to respond to a mite infestation. .
7. Zamora, held in the Mariscal Zavala prison in Guatemala City, has been declared prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
8. For the president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, who assumed power in January, Zamora’s imprisonment “is a clear example of the corruption and abuse of power that prevails in the Public Ministry.”

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